The Novak's from Next Door
by BrOwNiEfOx
Summary: The Winchester's live their life, day in and day out, in the usual manner: go to school, sleep, eat, hunt the occasional monster, the like. And they'd like to think they know everything about everyone. So when the Novak's move in, the Winchester's make it their job to find out everything they can about them.


*DEAN*

The Winchesters had lived in their house for 16 years. Their family was made up of four individuals. There was the proud father, John Winchester, who owned an auto shop. His wife, Mary, was beautiful and helped out at home, taking care of their two sons. Sam, who was 10, was smart for his age and at the top of his class, not to mention he was stronger than he looked. Then there was Dean.

Dean was 14 years old and born on January 24, 2000. He was an Aquarius and he liked sunsets, long walks on the beach, and frisky women like Lisa Braedan who lived down the road. He was head of the wrestling team and, though he had yet to tell his parents, he was also secretly a cheerleader too. But that's just because he, or should I say I, am so awesome.

All families had secrets. Mrs. Braeden had done time for robbing a store. Garth who lived down the street, I'm pretty sure he's anorexic, and his dad left him mom when he was born. I think his mom might even abuse him. Becky from school had a crush on Chuck from the class next to hers, and Chuck himself, well, nobody even knew sure where his parents were. All the secrets varied in urgency, ranging from dangerous to just a laugh heard through the grape-vine. My family's secret, though, was big.

We were Hunters. That's why our town was one of the safest towns in the USA. For vacations we'd go out hunting. It was a thing that ran in our family, coming from my mom's side, though my dad was also a great Hunter. Sammy and I had been raised into the family business, so we were about as threatening to monsters as some adult Hunters. Our job is also the reason why I knew the secrets of every one that lived in our neighborhood.

And why the Novak's were so mysterious.

The Novak's had moved in on a Friday the 13th, so that was strange enough. The house that they moved into was a big house, a mansion really, with a large front and back yard, balcony, big garage, everything that a mansion would have. The mansion was at the end of our street, and we sat on top of our house with our binoculars and watched the family climb out of the car. The mom had red hair and kind, brown eyes. She was lifting one of the boxes out of the back of their truck. There was no dad to be seen.

For the kids, there were two. The older one looked about to be my age. He wore a tan trench-coat and a dress clothes like he was going to church or a dance or something of the sort. He had black hair and blue eyes. The younger one looked like he was Sammy's age. He was short with longish, slicked-back blonde hair and this grin. His eyes were a faded hazel and he seemed full of energy.

The next day, we went over with brownies.

"So, this is how we're going to get info on them, the old new-neighbors-get-together thing?" I asked as mom smacked my hand away from the dish holding the chocolate delicacies.

"No, we're being good neighbors and welcoming them into a new area. And if we just so happen to find out a thing or two about them, well, then we'll just call it a win-win." Mom smiled at me and passed me the bowl that had held the batter and I happily licked it as she handed the spoon to Sammy, who was sitting next to me.

"Let's make it a game: whoever gets the juiciest secret gets a gallon of ice-cream." Dad said as he walked into the room, pulling on a thin jacket since it was starting to get to that time of year when the nights were cold. I grinned. I had always been good at this.

We all stood outside their door. We had rung the doorbell and were just waiting for someone to answer the door. It was eventually answered by the mom, who gave us a kind smile, looking at each of us in turn.

"Hello, I'm Mary Winchester. My husband, my sons and I live down the street. We just wanted to welcome you to the neighborhood with some brownies." Mom gave her best we're-such-good-neighbors-let's-be-friends smile.

"Thank you, please, come in." I looked around and gawked slightly since it was my first time being inside of a mansion. It was just as grand as I would imagine it, with two staircases leading up the to the second floor. We walked in between them until we reached a dining room. It was a large room for it, but there was only a small round table filling it up, leaving a lot of room. Sitting at the table and eating steaks were the two kids we saw earlier.

"Gabriel, Castiel!" The woman called to her sons, who stopped eating and ran over to her. "It's so nice to have people come over so soon." The woman commented. "I'm Anna, Anna Novak. These are my sons, Gabriel and Castiel." Castiel being the one with black hair, and Gabriel being the one with blonde.

"How nice to meet you two." Mary spoke to the kids. "I'm Mary. This is my husband, John, and my sons Sammy and Dean." I held out my hand for a shake, and Castiel hesitantly grabbed it and shook it.

"Why don't you all go and play while we talk?" The 'I'm-acting-like-I'm-asking-but-this-is-an-order voice', my old foe. I contemplated fighting against it, but then remembered I was trying to find out things about this family, and the best way would be to divide and conquer. You win this match.

"Okay. C'mon, you can show me your room." I said to Castiel happily.

"Do you want to see my room?" Gabriel asked Sammy, who nodded. He started to practically skip back in the direction we had come from when he stopped abruptly, staring into space. I could've sworn I also saw his eyes flash gold for a moment. Gabriel shook his head a muttered to himself. "What are you guys thinking? That's a horrible idea." He then came to Earth and continued to the stairs. Anna and Castiel seemed unfazed by it, but I shared a glance with each of my family members. This was worth investigating.

*MARY*

I watched the boys leave. Something was up with Gabriel. I'd see if I could get anything out of Anna.

"Well, let's not stand around like this. Follow me." Anna led us into a smaller room. It had two comfortable looking couches in it. She sat down on one and we sat down on the other. Anna took out her phone and quickly dialed a number.

"Hello, Tessa? Yeah, I have guests over. Could bring us something, preferably liquid and hot? Thanks, we're in Living Room A."

"Who was that?" John asked as Anna put her phone on one of the side tables.

"That was our maid, Tessa. She's really sweet. Been taking care of me and my boys since Cas was three." Anna replied cheerfully.

"So are Castiel and Gabriel your only ones? You seem like you would have more for buying such a big house." I remarked casually.

"No, they're my only ones. We need the extra room, though. Gabriel tends to just bounce off the walls, and I've found if there are more walls to bounce off of, then Gabriel can keep from getting bored for a little bit longer. Castiel's never been much of a handful, though. He's always making sure his little brother is okay, though."

"Same with our Dean. He's made taking care of Sam his job. I guess it's just a big brother thing. But for us, it's Dean that has limitless energy. Sam tends to be the one that is calm most of the time, though he has had his moments."

"So, I couldn't help but notice Gabriel zone out there for a second." John spoke up. "Does he do that often?" Before Anna could reply, a woman walked into the room. She had long black hair and deep brown eyes. She was wearing a black tank top and skinny jeans, a jacket tied around her waist. The woman was carrying a tray with a teapot and three teacups on it. She set it down on the coffee table between us and Anna.

"Thank you Tessa." Anna thanked the woman, now identified as Tessa.

"No problem Anna." I caught John staring at Tessa and elbowed him subtly but painfully in the ribs.

"Please, have a cup. I think it's Jasmine."

"I don't like tea." John said bluntly, and I shot him a glare.

"Well jasmine just so happens to be my favorite." I took a cut and poured myself some, feeling its heat seep into the ceramic cup and reach my hands.

"I'm sorry, what was it you said John?" Anna asked, holding her own teacup in her hands and blowing gently at the steam.

"Your son, Gabriel, looked like he zoned out or something before he left. Is that a common occurrence?" She got really quiet for a second, staring the contents in her cup, and for a moment I was afraid that John had hit a nerve or something.

"Both of my boys are very, very special. Gabriel, though, is special in ways that Castiel isn't, and vice-verse. However, the things that make Gabriel special make him very different from others kids. He's able to deal with it well enough, though sometimes he does go into his own little world. He won't talk to anyone, it's hard to get a response out of him, but he never stays like it for long. Well, there was that one time when he was about 5 years old when he didn't do anything for a whole day, but that hasn't happened since."

"So is he slow or autistic or something?" After that remark, I slammed my foot down on John's foot. Bless his soul, my husband could be so insensitive sometimes.

"Something like that." Anna replied, and the smile that had faded was coming back ever so slightly.

"What about your husband, is he at work or something?" I asked curiously. At my question, Anna looked at the picture on the side table next to her. It showed a picture of her, Castiel, Gabriel, and two other men that I didn't recognize. One had blonde hair and blue eyes and was holding a glass of wine in his hand, smirking. The other had hair that was honey colored and stormy-grey eyes. This man's arms were around Anna, and she was kissing his cheek. I had assumed that was her husband, and the other was another one of their kids, though apparently not. The picture looked like it was taken two or three years ago.

"I haven't seen Samandriel, or Alfie as he likes to be called, in a long time. Three or four years at least. He's a very busy man with a big job, so it's to be expected. I can take care of myself after all. And he did leave us with plenty of money to live off of, as you can see from our house. I do miss him, sometimes, but he's just doing what's best for us." I noted that, though she spoke fondly of him, no ring glinted on her finger.

"I'm sure he's a great man." I said, despite what I was really thinking. I was thinking of what I would do to the man that had abandoned such a wonderful woman, leaving her with two sons, money or not.

"Well, I have a new Monopoly board. Who wants to play?"

*DEAN*

I followed Castiel up the stairs. He and I went up one flight while Gabriel and Sam ran up the other side. Gabriel got to the top first, and was practically jumping up and down where he stood. He just has so much energy.

"Is he on a sugar high or something?" I asked Castiel. He looked at me, very seriously, and responded.

"Always."

Gabriel waited until we were all up to the second floor before darting down the hall. I looked at Sammy, I could tell he was already thinking about what secrets these actions held. Castiel just shook his head, a slight smile tugging at his lips, and followed the way down. There were many doors that we passed, but Castiel didn't give any of them a second look. I followed behind with Sam, resisting the urge to open one of them and see what was behind. There would be time to explore later, first I should get to know the Novak's themselves.

It soon became obvious why Castiel had no trouble telling his door from all the others in the halls. Painted on the door was a light-blue C, surrounded by two wings. They started out black, but the tips faded into vibrant cobalt. I reached out to touch it, but Castiel pushed my hand away.

"It's not dry yet." His room was... nice. A large, comfy looking bed sat in the middle of the room. It was nice and clean, everything seeming to have a place. Gabriel was inside and lying on the bed, sucking on a lollipop. Castiel looked at him with a look that I couldn't decipher, eyes going from Gabriel to the lollipop and then back to the lollipop, getting silent message through. Gabriel just shrugged, pulling it out of his mouth.

"Welcome to Castiel's room, where everything that can be clean is clean and nothing goes out of place." Gabriel stood up on the bed, gesturing to the room around him.

"What's with the wings painted on the door?" I asked, pulling a chair from the desk by the window and sitting down.

"That's what Castiel's wings look like. Well, they're smaller, but I hope they grow at least that big." Gabriel was the one to answer. "Let's go to my room now!" Gabriel ran back out the door, but this time we didn't follow right away. I wasn't ready to leave just yet. This was our time to find out about Castiel.

"Sorry, Gabriel has a... very active imagination." Castiel apologized. "I don't think we've really had a real introduction to one another." Castiel, once again, put his hand out. "Hello, I'm Castiel Novak. I'm 14 years old and in the 8th grade. I moved here yesterday at noon while you and your family watched us from your roof. I'm a straight 'A' student and have been since I was in Kindergarten. I like to paint and draw along with playing games, such as Risk, Hide-n-go-Seek, and know the basics of wielding a sword."

I shook his hand yet again, and I swear on my dead dog Bones' grave, his eyes flashed a brighter shade of blue for a second.

"Well, I'm Dean Winchester, 14 years old, also in 8th grade. I have a group of friends at school and know almost everything about each of them, so when we were watching you yesterday it was to gauge your potential. I'm good at wresting, through Bobby has gotten me into baseball as well, and I never go anywhere without my pocket knife, I don't care what the school rules are. And nobody messes with Sammy." Castiel nodded in a knowing way that sort of creeped me out. But I kind of liked him. He did have friend potential, strange or not. All of my friends were strange anyway.

Sam stuck out his hand after me.

"I'm Sam Winchester. I'm 10 years old and in the 5th grade. I'm in an ALPS class, which stands for Accelerated Learning Program and then I forget the S. I'm the top of my class. I used to have a dog named Bones but he died a year or two ago. I like moose and an assortment of colors. My favorite game to play is Clue." They shook, and again Castiel's eyes seemed to flash, but I ignored it since, well, he was normal. Nothing ever moved into this neighborhood that was evil.

"It's nice to meet you both. I hope we can become friends." I noticed the word 'friends' seemed slightly wrong on his tongue, just slightly mispronounced, like it was foreign and hadn't been used often enough in his life.

"Wait until you meet the others in the neighborhood. Don't worry; they're all a little wacky. You'll fit in just fine." I reassured him.

"We'd better get Gabriel before he breaks something." Castiel changed the subject. I don't think he believed me. I'd just have to prove him wrong when we got to school in two days. Once again, we were out in the hall, heading deeper into the house. "Gabriel's room is a bit farther down. We thought about having them right next to each other, but Gabriel has already proved that breaking walls was quite easy for him and I don't want holes in my wall."

Gabriel's door was painted in a way similar to Castiel's, though different. A golden G was sat in the middle surrounded by 6, large wings. Only 3 1/2 of the wings were painted, though, and the paint was still sitting outside in the hallway. The wings that were painted had golden feathers that at the very tips became soft pinks and purples at the end. I looked at Castiel, silently asking many questions about the wings, but Castiel – while seeming to have heard them – didn't answer any.

"Gabriel will explain. He loves to talk about his wings."

I will admit, I was expecting to see something that reminded me of what towns looked like after a natural disaster, and that was true in the sense that things were scattered with no apparent place to go. But I had been expecting that the room would look like Castiel's, that there would be desks and tables and dressers. But there wasn't. Gabriel's bed sat in the middle of the room, but that was the only furniture. The floor had green and blue scribbles on it that looked like it was supposed to be America as seen from space. The walls had mostly blue sky with large, while, puffy clouds adorning them. And then on the ceiling was black with white and yellow dots (stars) speckled across it.

As for the room itself, there were plants everywhere. They ranged from small trees to bushes to even just a box holding some grass. Gabriel was curled up on his bed, the lollipop gone, now eating a snickers bar. He looked up and grabbed a flute out from underneath his pillow (what the heck?) and Castiel groaned.

"Oh, c'mon, don't be like that. Just play a little, a scale, maybe minuet." Gabriel activated his puppy dog eyes, and I knew Castiel had lost this battle. No older brother can withstand puppy dog eyes. I know I'm useless under Sammy's. I've only been able to preserver through them and be a tough older brother a time or two, and those were very monumental moments in my life... that also made me feel like a horrible brother.

Castiel grabbed the flute and brought it to his lips and started to play. He started off lightly, softly. He played a scale, up and down, slowly. Then repeated it faster. A new scale followed, faster than the last. Castiel played 5 more, speeding up as he went, and seeming to get more into the playing. Then came minuet, like Gabriel had suggested, and Castiel played it nicely, getting louder and softer as he went, accenting notes, playing some short and some long. When he was done, Gabriel clapped and took the flute back, putting it once again under his pillow.

"What was that about?" Castiel asked. I noticed his fingers still twitching, like they were still pressing down the keys on the flute.

"I wanted to show you off to our new friends." There it was again. The ever-so-slight change in the word. As a Hunter, I knew how to pick out tiny details like that. It seemed both of the boys didn't use that word enough. "How do you like my room? I spent all last night coloring. You won't believe how many crayons it took."

"I think I can guess." I replied, glancing at Sam who was picking up one of the many minuscule pieces of crayon that was on the ground.

"What's with the wings?" Sam asked, pressing the crayon piece again the wall and making a streak down it.

"That's what our wings look like. Well, mine don't look _exactly _like that. They're more broken and frayed, but they're getting better." I looked at Sam, already formulating a hypothesis of what was wrong with Gabriel and what was special about Castiel.

"So, what do my wings look like?" Gabriel's stared at me, seeing if I was joking.

"You don't have wings, stupid. Only special people have wings." Gabriel took another bite of his candy bar, ignoring the glare that Castiel gave him.

"Gabriel, don't be so rude. They're our guests." Castiel chastised him, but Gabriel seemed unaffected. Gabriel even opened his mouth, probably to rebuttal against what Castiel had said, but a sharp whistle pierced the air before a single word could be uttered. Once again, Gabriel was off, out the door and down the hall. I was starting to feel lucky had a little brother that wasn't nearly this hyper, though I would like it if he did more than read.

"That's our mom's whistle. She uses it when we're all spread around some place." Castiel explained, heading out the door at a considerable slower speed, leading us once again through the twisting halls. Of course, I already had the way memorized. I wouldn't consider myself a good hunter if I didn't. From there, Gabriel and Castiel said their goodbyes before going back into the dining room to finish their meal and we left, heading back down the road to our house. Once the door to their house closed, the hypotheses started coming.

"Anna seems nice enough. She holds no ill will to her husband, who seems to have abandoned both her and sons. She's a very pure hearted woman. Her husband, Samandriel, doesn't seem to have abused her unless she has Stockholm syndrome. There's someone else that can be seen in some photos, but I don't know who he is. He is possibly her husband's brother or even her own brother." Mom started the deduction.

"That's just about what I got. Anna seems touchy about what makes her boys so 'special', though." Dad agreed, and looked at Sammy and I.

"I think Gabriel has ADHD and might be a little schizophrenic. Not dangerously so, from what I can tell, just little things. He says that he and Castiel have wings. Castiel seems to enjoy humoring him." Sam reported, making sure not to step on cracks in the sidewalk to cure the bit of boredom setting in.

"Castiel seems like a good kid. Very talented. He's obviously an artist from the wings he painted on their doors, and he can play the flute along with having at least one song memorized." It was my turn.

"Seems like this neighborhood always gets stuck with the 'interesting' crowd." Dad remarked, and I had to admit it was true. But that's why we liked this town. It was why we didn't just move around all the time like most Hunters do, what kept us from getting restless and searching out cases when we weren't on family 'vacations'. It was home, something most Hunter's don't have, and I wouldn't trade it for the world.


End file.
